Tube nut



Patented Apna ma 2,466,521 TUBE Nur Albert J. Weatherhead, Jr., Shaker Heights, Ohio,

assignor to The Weatherhead Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation o! Ohio Application July 4, i945, Serial No. 603,137

1 Claim.`

My invention relates to tube nuts and concerns particularly a nut for securing flared tube couplings.

It is an object oi my invention tok provide an improved method of manufacturing nuts for tube couplings, and to provide an improved, inexpensive, readily fabricated tube nut.

A further object is to provide a hollow nut which has advantages of a nut composed of hard tough metal without the dilculty of forming threads in such material.

Other and further objects. features and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In carrying out my invention in its preferred form, I provide an outer shell which is threaded and one end of which has been expanded to form a suitable nut head such as a hexagonal head and within the shell I provide an inner sleeve which is flanged at one end to abut the expanded head and flared at the other end to retain it within the shell. The shell may be composed of a readily worked, easily threaded, material such as brass, for example, and the sleeve is composed of a tougher material such as stainless steel which will not deform when driven against a cutting sleeve for use in the tube coupling.

A better understanding of the invention will be afforded by the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view seen from the end ofthe nut at which the head is formed;

Fig. 3 is a medial longitudinal sectional view corresponding to Fig. 1; and,

Fig. 4 shows the tube nut assembled with a flared metallic tubing.

Like reference characters are utilized throughout the drawing to designate like parts.

For the sake oi illustration, a tube nut formed inaccordance with one embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the drawings. Such a nut may be employed for various purposes, especially for securing tubing in a tube coupling, such as those of the type employing a cutting sleeve as described in Patents 2,139,431-Kreidel and 1905,665-Weatherhead.

The nut so formed comprises a shell II, and an inner-sleeve I2. The shell II is substantially cylindrical in form except at one end where it is expanded out of cylindrical form to forma head I3, preferably in the shape of a standard nut head such as hexagonal. The cylindrical portion of the shell II is exteriorly threaded to form the screw thread Il.

The inner-sleeve I2 comprises tubing having such an outer diameter as to make a relatively tight nt within the threaded, cylindrical portion I4 of the shell II. I2 are expanded in order to retain it within the shell II, preferably a circular flange I5 is formed at the end corresponding to the head I3 and the` flange I5 is substantially the diameter of the circle inscribed in the hexagon of the head I3. The opposite end I6 of the inner sleeve I2 is expanded or flared to bear against the end I'I of the shell II away from the head I3.

Preferably the shell II and the inner sleeve i2 comprise stampings. The shell I I may be formed of a suitable material such as drawn copper or brass which may readily be formed and which is easily threaded and the inner sleeve I2 may be formed of a material such as stainless steel, for example, which is suillciently hard and tough so as not to be deformed by the back end of a hard cutting sleeve such as may be employed in a tube coupling in order that the desired force may be applied to such a cutting sleeve by the tube nut.

In forming the tube nut preferably the shell is stamped from tubular material, cut to the desired length, and placed in a die with the desired hexagonal expanded form at one end with a mandrel driven into the tube to form the head. The inner sleeve I2 is also preferably formed from tubing by spinning or rolling the flange I5 at one end. Thereafter the flanged length of tubing is inserted in the shell II and the flared end I6 is expanded or spun outwardly to hold the inner sleeve I2 within the shell Il.

Although for some purposes the t between the sleeve I2 and the shell II may be tight enough to prevent turning of one within the other and thus produce a unitary nut, the invention is not limited thereto. It is preferable to maintain the dimension tolerances such that the shell I I is free to turn as the n'ut is tightened vwithout causing the inner sleeve I2 to turn, when the tube nut is utilized for coupling flared end tubing such as shown in Patent No. 1,905,665, for example. The flare of the tubing may then be clamped between two non-rotating parts, viz., the body to which the tubing is coupled and the inner sleeve l2 of my tube nut. In this manner radial scufllng on l The ends of the inner sleeve I Y the'shell -II and thus insures even holding sure on the tubing being coupled. The conical flare il of the sleeve I2 iits asimilar flare on tubing to be connected as illustrated inA said Patent 1,905,665.l This assembly is illustrated in 118.4 wherein the flared end 2l of the length of tubing P is clamped between the conical nose 2l of an inverted female ntting 1" by means of athreaded portion 22 of the ntting, cooperating with the tube nut threads Il. l

While I have described my invention as embodied in concrete form and as operating in a specific manner in accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes. it should be understood that I do not limit my invention thereto, since various modincations will suggest themselves to thereof of reduced diameter, said remainder beim! v v 4 v substantially cylindrical and exteriorly threaded, an inner sleeve within the shell terminating at one end in a radical nange abutting the said hexagonal shell head, the opposite end of said sleeve being flared against the other end of the shell for retaining said sleeve within said shell, the inner surface of said iiared end being formed to engage the nared end of a mild conducting tube extending through the sleeve. f

ALBERT' J. WIATERHEAD. Ja.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the A, iileoi this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Cornell AUC. 10, 1937 

